Lịch sử

Lịch sử  Việt Nam.

Việt Nam Quê Hương tôi. Đất Rồng và Huyền Thoại

j050807 Culture, Histoire, Lịch sử, Văn Hóa , ,

Paris, kinh đô ánh sáng

Việt Nam hai tiếng nhớ nhung

Văn hóa Lương Chử 

Tại sao chọn gọi là Đất Rồng và Huyền Thoại ?

intro

Version française
English version
Thư viện hình

Việt Nam là một quốc gia ở Đông Dương mà người dân rất yêu chuộng hoà bình, độc lập và tự do. Là người dân Việt  thì phải có khả năng kháng cự lại trước hết việc đồng hóa hay là tư tưởng ngoại bang và hảnh diện có mang ở trong tĩnh mạch dòng máu của cha Rồng. Đối với người dân Việt, không còn sự  hoài nghi nào cả vì qua truyền thuyết Con Rồng Cháu Tiên có từ thuở nào, họ là con cháu của  cha Rồng mặc dầu họ biết rõ  từ nay nguồn gốc qua các công trình khoa học di truyền. Họ là người thừa kế của nền văn hóa Hòa Bình và văn hóa Phùng Nguyên  và thuộc về đại tộc Bách Việt, những bộ tộc sống rải rác ở phía nam sông Duơng Tử (Văn hóa Lương Chử và Thạch Gia Hà). Nuớc ở nơi nầy nó thấm nhuần với đất vì có thể là vậy nên quốc gia của họ thường được gọi là Đất Nước.

Cũng  trên mãnh đất của đồng bằng sông Hồng nầy đã qua bao nhiêu thế kỷ trước Công Nguyên có một vương quốc sáng lâp một triều đại với các vua Hùng huyền thoại (nước Văn Lang). Sau đó được thay  thế bởi nước Âu Việt của An Dương Vương (Thục Phán) mà thành trì Cổ Loa là thủ đô, một bằng chứng cụ thể của vương quốc nầy bị thôn tính về sau bởi  Triệu Đà, một danh tướng của hoàng đế Trung Hoa Tần Thủy Hoàng. Ông nầy sáng lập ra nước Nam Việt (Nan Yue) lại bị thôn tính lúc đầu bởi  Hán Vũ Đế và về sau bởi quân Tàu của danh tướng Mã Viện (Ma Yuan) dưới thời  Hán Quang Vũ Đế (Guang wudi) với một nghìn năm bắc thuộc  trước khi có cuộc chiến tranh giải phóng dân tộc của tuớng Ngô Quyền với chiến thắng rực rỡ trên vịnh Hạ Long, một trong di sản thế giới của Việt Nam.

Trong thời kỳ đô hộ, văn hóa Đồng Sơn bị hủy diệt. Người ta tìm thấy trong văn hóa nầy các thạp đồng và nhất là cái trống đồng uy nghiêm biểu hiệu quyền lực và đặc tính của dân tộc Việt đã bao lần suýt bị hủy diệt bởi đế  chế Trung Hoa theo dòng lich sử.  Đây không phải  là lịch sử của các triều đại vua chúa (Đinh, Tiền Lê, Lý, Trần, Hậu Lê, Nguyễn  vân vân…) hay các phong trào tư tưởng mà chính đây là lịch sử của dân tộc nông dân bền bỉ từ biên cương Việt Trung (Cao Bằng) đến mũi Cà Mau, vất vã khó nhọc để lại dấu ấn cho quang cảnh của mãnh đất nầy. Sự hy sinh của họ không phải là một từ vô ích. Các hào kiệt của họ thà làm qủi phương nam thay vì làm các vương công phương Bắc. Còn các nữ hào kiệt cũng không ngần ngại đáp lời sông núi. Đó là hai bà Trưng Trắc Trung Nhị, Dương Vân Nga,  Triệu Ẩu, Ỷ Lan,  Nguyễn Thị Giang (Cô Giang), Nguyễn thị Minh khai vân vân. Không người con Việt nào có thể quên câu nói bất diệt của Nguyễn Thái Học trước cái chết :

Chết vì Tổ Quốc.
Đây là số mệnh quá cao thượng,  đáng khen

Trên chiến trường, không có lực luợng  ngoại bang nào có thể  đánh bại khi có chạm trán với người dân  Việt. Chính họ dành được  sự thắng lợi  nhờ ba yếu tố nầy: Thiên Thời, Đia Lợi và Nhân Hòa. Chính yếu tố sau cùng  nầy nó  đem lại sự khác biệt trong cuộc chiến tranh tiêu hao. Nguyễn Trãi đã có dip nói rằng thà chinh phục nhân tâm hơn là chiếm đoạt thành trì. Hiên ngang trước quân giặc mạnh  hơn họ thì họ cần phải kiên nhẫn nghĩ đến các thể thức thường được áp dụng trong lý thuyết Âm Dương : Lấy Yếu chống Mạnh hay Lấy Cụt chống Dài. Chính nhờ mưu lược nầy mà   được Thống soái Trần Hưng Đạo sử dụng để chống lại hạm đội xâm lược Nguyên-Mông của Hốt Tất Liệt trong trận chiến sông Bạch Đằng năm 1288 và sau đó sĩ phu Nguyễn Trãi dành phần thắng lợi  trong cuộc chống giặc nhà Minh của hoàng đế Vĩnh Lạc, người xây dựng Cố Cung ở Bắc Kinh được thiết kế bởi người Việt tên là Nguyễn An (Ruan An) và xua đuổi quân Tàu ra khỏi Việt Nam vào năm 1428.

Dùng chiến thuật di quân (Dương) trước sự bất động của quân nhà Thanh (Âm) phù hợp hoàn toàn với địa lợi, vua Quang Trung  đánh bại  chớp nhoáng quân địch vào năm 1788 trong 5 ngày Tết  để lấy lại Thăng Long. Chính cũng Quang Trung lợi dụng sự không biết đia thế của quân địch mà dành phần thắng lợi thần tốc ở  rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút (Mỹ Tho) với quân Xiêm La (Thái Lan) của tướng Chakri  khi ông nầy gởi sang 50 vạn binh tiếp viện cho vua Gia Long. Không có dân tộc nào có thể cưởng lại trước sự  bành trướng  của người dân Việt trong cuộc Nam Tiến đến mũi Cà Mau. Đó là trường hợp của hai vương quốc Chămpa ở miền trung và Chân Lạp ở đồng bằng sông Cửu Long.

Dù bị nghìn năm bắc thuộc và  có sự đóng góp văn hóa ngọai bang, những người nông dân con Việt  mảnh khảnh  nầy, chân vùi dưới bùn ở giữa các ruộng lúa, đã  gìn giữ được  những gì qúi giá nhất của các dân tộc trên thế giới. Đó là những truyền thống ( ca dao chẵng hạn)  và tiếng Việt dựa trên chữ Hán sau nầy dùng chữ Latinh với ông thầy tu dòng tên là  Alexandre de Rhodes. Chỉ còn bộ tộc Lạc Việt duy nhất  thuộc đại tộc Bách Việt không bị hán  hóa qua nhiều  thế kỷ. Chính Đức Khổng Tử  đã có từng  so sánh sinh lực  có ở nơi người Trung Hoa và người Lạc Việt, tổ tiên của người Việt Nam ngày nay: can đảm và vũ lực thuộc về người Trung Hoa, còn Lạc Việt thì khoan dung và  nhân từ.

Tuy nhiên người dân Việt luôn luôn gắn bó sâu đậm với đất nước khiến họ không nhường bộ trong cuộc đấu tranh vì thế theo sự suy luận của một nhóm người, họ là những kẻ đi chinh phục tàn nhẫn và đáng sợ nhưng còn nhóm người khác thì  họ là những người bảo vệ chính đáng trong công cuộc chiến  dành lại độc lập và tư do. Dù sao họ đã hy sinh quá nhiều trong quá khứ về sinh mạng cho hai khái niệm: độc lập và tự do mà họ  không có quen để lựa chọn hay tách biệt. Chính vì  vậy họ vẫn trong tình trạng khổ tâm không ít. Rồi họ cũng  có lần lượt  hai khái niệm nầy với  cái giá  mạng người quá đắt. Việc ý thức tập thể bất đầu thành hình qua nhiều năm với Nguyễn An Ninh.

Mặc dầu ba vị vua trẻ Việt Nam Hàm Nghi, Thành Thái và Duy Tân bị lưu đày ở Algérie và La Réunion và việc xử trảm nhiều nhà cách mạng trong đó  có một chàng trai trẻ tài ba Nguyễn Thái Học, người dân Việt vẫn  không mất nhuệ khí trong các cuộc nổi dậy và dành lại độc lập với chiến thắng ở Điên Biên Phủ vào năm 1954. Việc  thả ba trăm tấn bom (265 kí cho mỗi người dân Việt)  và 60 triệu lít chất làm rụng lá cũng không làm nản lòng người dân Việt trên con đường thống nhất  lại đất nước với sự sụp đổ chính quyền Saïgon  vào năm 1975 sau đó dẫn đến việc đày  biết bao nhiêu người lính miền nam đến trại học tập và cuộc di tản  chưa từng thấy, có rất nhiều người thuyền nhân  chết đuối  và bị hảm hại bởi hải tặc ở biển Đông và vịnh Thái Lan để đi tìm tự do.

Theo lời tường thuật của nhiều tác giả Tây Âu, (Barry Wain, Magali Barbieri) có dịp nghiên cứu về vấn đề nầy thì có ít nhất  tổi thiểu là 250.000 người Việt vượt biên chết  ở biển. Theo sự dự tính của cơ quan HCR (Haut  Commissariat pour les Réfugiés), từ 1975 đến 1991, trong 16 năm, có gần một triệu người dân Việt mà trong đó có 8 trăm nghìn người di tản đã lìa bỏ Việt Nam. Con đường hòa giải dân tộc rất còn xa vời vì nó đầy gian nan, cạm bẩy và vụng về sau ba thập niên chiến tranh và đau khổ.

Một trang lịch sữ đã khép lại  nhưng Việt Nam phải trả  giá rất đắt không những trên phương diện con người và môi trường bởi vì vẫn tiếp tục nhận  những hậu quả không  ước lượng nổi của bao nhiêu thập niên chiến tranh (chất độc da cam chẵng hạn). Theo tờ báo thông tin của Unesco ghi lại tháng năm năm 2000, một tổ chức làm việc dưới sự bảo hộ của Liên Hiệp Quốc, ước tính có một phần năm rừng ở miền nam bị hủy hoại bởi các thuốc diệt cỏ của Hoa Kỳ.

Người trai nước Việt  ngày nay không biết hận thù  và cũng không có nỗi buồn chiến tranh của nhà văn Bảo Ninh. Nhưng thách thức  nghèo đói  vẫn  còn rình rập đeo đuổi. Bóng ma chiến tranh nó vẫn còn đó theo dòng ngày  tháng  ở biển Đông với các đảo Hoàng Sa bị cưởng đoạt  năm 1974 và Trường Sa gần đây bởi người phương Bắc mà  mối đe dọa càng ngày càng quá khiêu khích. Trước tham vọng quá đỗi của Trung Quốc, bài thiên sữ thi « Nam Quốc Sơn Hà » của tướng Lý Thường Kiệt phá Tống bình Chiêm, khẳng định lại chủ quyền của Việt Nam, nó trở lại ám ảnh tâm trí và vang âm trong trái tim của người con Việt.  

Tuy rằng với bao nỗi lo âu và cuộc sống quá tồi tệ, không ai có thể quên đi  được mãnh đất  nầy mà người con Việt thường gọi là Quê Hương vì  chỉ ở nơi  nầy  có thể tìm lại kỷ niệm của tuổi ấu thơ, mái trường xưa, nguồn gốc và  quá khứ. Mặc dầu mãnh đất nầy  nó đồng nghĩa với chữ nghèo nàn và khổ cực, nó là lý lẽ sống đấy vì ông cha ta  tranh đấu và giành được từ  khi lập nước với mồ hôi, nước mắt và xương máu. Cũng như mẹ, mỗi người con dân Việt  chỉ có một người mẹ duy nhất trong đời không ai có thể thay thế được. Ngoài làng ra, hình ảnh đình làng, con trâu, nón lá hay cây tre không bao giờ xoá mờ trong kí ức tập thể của người con Việt cả. Đối với những người con Việt viễn xứ, đây chỉ là một khoảng thời gian tạm thời thôi  chớ nó không phải là một kết cục chính. Hình bóng Quê Hương nó vẫn  đeo đuổi mãi  họ như chiếc đòn gánh trên vai  của người bán hàng rong với biết bao nhiêu trìu mến và luyến tiếc.

PCHTVN

Tại sao chọn gọi là Đất Rồng và Huyền Thoại ?
 
Người Việt cổ có thói quen xăm mình trên cơ thể. Tục lệ « man rợ » này, thường được nhắc đến trong các biên niên sử Trung Quốc. Nếu chúng ta dựa vào các văn bản Việt Nam thì đây là tục lệ nhằm bảo vệ họ để tránh sự tấn công của các con thuồng luồng (chắc đây là các con sấu hay giao long). Ngoài ra, họ thường nói bóng gíó qua các truyền thuyết để cho phép hậu thế truy tìm ra được nguồn gốc bởi sự hủy diệt có hệ thống nhất là nền văn hóa và trống đồng  và sự đàn áp không ngừng của nguời Trung Hoa trong thời kỳ bắc thuộc gần đến một ngàn năm.
 
Theo nhà nghiên cứu người Pháp Paul Pozner, sử học Việt Nam dựa trên một truyền thống lịch sử truyền khẩu rất lâu đời có trước thời đại của chúng ta dưới dạng truyền thuyết ở trong các đền thờ tổ tiên. Nhà văn Phạm Duy Khiêm, người Việt Nam đầu tiên đỗ tú tài cổ điển Pháp ở thời thuộc địa, đã có dịp kể lại cho chúng ta các truyền thuyết và các câu chuyện cổ tích nầy trong cuốn sách nổi tiếng có mang tựa đề “Légendes des terres sereines” mà ông được giải « Prix littéraire d’Indochine » vào năm 1943 về văn hóa và trí tuệ của người dân Việt. Chính vì những lý do nêu trên đây mà chúng ta chọn vùng đất của các con rồng và huyền thoại để chỉ định nước Việt Nam.
 

Cập nhật 1 tháng 12 2025

 

 

Le voyage à Hà Giang, Cao Bằng (Chuyến đi Hà Giang, Cao Bằng)

j050807 Ethnies, Français, Lịch sử, Sites touristiques , ,

Le voyage à Hà Giang et Cao Bằng

Devant la chute d’eau impressionnante de Bản Giốc (Cao Bẳng)

Version vietnamienne

Je n’ai aucun moment  de visiter jusque-là tant d’endroits durant mon séjour au Vietnam comme je viens de le faire cette fois. Cela vient peut-être de mon ambition ancrée en moi depuis longtemps malgré mon âge assez élevé. Si je ne fais pas cette fois une excursion à Hà Giang, je pense que je n’ai plus l’occasion pour y aller même si j’ai tant d’argent. En prenant habituellement un circuit touristique, on n‘est jamais gâté car on n’a pas l’occasion de faire des photos à l’endroit désiré mais on est obligé de respecter les horaires imposées par le guide. De plus on a besoin de justifier qu’on est en bonne santé et qu’on est accompagné par des proches durant le voyage. Grâce à l’aide apportée par le patron d’un hôtel situé dans la vieille ville de Hanoi, Mr Trung et à l’encouragement de mes enfants, je suis plus motivé pour réaliser ce projet. La veille de notre départ, tout le monde me recommande d’y renoncer car les routes de Hà Giang ont été dévastées par le typhon Sơn Tinh la semaine précédente. Mais je suis entêté dans ma décision car je pense que chacun de nous a son destin et Dieu continue à soutenir ma volonté d’y parvenir. En arrivant à Hà Giang, je m’aperçois qu’il y a tellement de tronçons de route sinueux dévastés. La pluie continue à tomber à des endroits où le nuage s’assombrit et la route est très dangereuse pour moi et mes proches. Il ne faut pas oublier de remercier le jeune chauffeur Minh tellement doué dans la conduite et aimable que ma peur s’estompe au fil de mon voyage malgré la succession des pentes particulièrement plus raides que celles trouvées en Corse (France). Minh ne cesse pas de répondre à mon attente et de me permettre à faire des photos à mon gré malgré sa fatigue visible sur son visage à cause de son assiduité pour parer à toute éventualité. Il faut reconnaître que j’ai la chance d’avoir des gens extrêmement gentils et d’être dans cette région. C’est aussi une occasion pour moi d’admirer la beauté naturelle et grandiose, une caractéristique de la forêt du nord-ouest semblable à un tableau naturel du créateur, de pouvoir visiter la vieille ville Đồng Văn, grimper les 384 marches de l’escalier pour voir le drapeau flottant à Lũng Cú, admirer les chutes d’eau impressionnantes de Bản Giốc (Cao Bằng) occupées en grande partie aujourd’hui par les gens du Nord dans une région jusque-là défendue vaillamment par nos ancêtres avec des larmes et du sang. Je suis à la fois triste et heureux quand je rencontre à Lũng Cú deux jeunes garçons routards vietnamiens âgés à peu près de 16 à 18 ans venant de la région Thái Nguyên avec leur moto. Leur but est de pouvoir réaliser quelques photos avec la tour du drapeau flottant à Lũng Cú en grimpant comme moi les 300 marches de l’escalier. Ce geste m’émeut tellement que je ne retiens pas mes larmes. Je me rends compte qu’il y a toujours  l’amour intense de la jeunesse vietnamienne face à la menace des gens du Nord.

Galerie des photos

Chuyến đi Hà Giang và Cao Bằng

Chưa có bao giờ tôi về Việt Nam mà đi tham quan nhiều nơi như vậy có lẻ vì hoài bão mà mình có từ lâu ở nơi mình nhưng cũng có phần nào vì tuổi tác của mình. Nếu không đi thì không bao giờ đi được nửa dù có tiền đi nửa. Đi tour thì không thích thú chi cho mấy không được chụp những nơi mình thích mà còn vô cùng vội vã tranh thủ thì giờ theo lịch trình của hướng dẩn viên . Vã lại còn phải bảo đảm không bệnh hoạn có bảo hiểm và có người thân đi chung khi đi tour. Vi thế nhờ biết cháu Trung, nguời quản lý của khách sạn mình ở và quen biết từ lâu và nhờ có các con cháu đi chung mà mình mới có động lực thực hiện được hoài bão nầy. Trước ngày đi, mọi người khuyên bỏ ý đinh nầy đi đang sạt lở đường xá ở Hà Giang với bão Sơn Tinh tuần trước. Nhưng mình nhất định đi vì mình nghĩ rằng mỗi người đều có số mạng vã lại Trời không phụ ý định tâm quyết của mình đấy. Khi đến Hà Giang, mình mới nhận thấy sạt lở ở những đoan đường quanh co, mưa vẫn còn khi có mây đen ở từng đoạn đường, rất cực kỳ nguy hiểm cho mình và mọi người. Cũng phải cảm ơn Minh, cháu tài xế trẻ lái rất giỏi và rất dễ thương khiến sự sợ hải của mình không còn nửa nhất là đèo nầy vừa qua thì đèo khác lại tới còn hơn ở đảo Corse của Pháp nhiều lắm. Chú ơi, chú muốn ngừng ở đâu chụp, cháu ngừng ở nơi đó dù đôi khi Minh tỏ ra mệt mỏi đau lưng vì quá chăm chỉ. Thật sự tôi có duyên với mọi người nhất là với mãnh đất nầy. Mới có dip nhìn thấu tận vẽ đep cực kỳ hùng vĩ đặc trưng của rừng Tây Bắc như một bức tranh thiên nhiên của tạo hóa, có dip đến tham quan làng cổ Đồng Văn, leo 384 bậc thang lên xem cột cờ Lũng Cú, đến nhìn thác Bản Giốc(Cao Bằng) hùng vĩ nay bị mất đi một phần ở mãnh đất đia đầu của Tổ Quốc được bao lần giữ gìn bởi ông cha chúng ta. Rất vui buồn lẫn lộn khi thấy hai đứa trẻ cở chừng 16, 18 tuổi chạy xe gắn máy từ Thái Nguyên ngủ bờ ngủ bụi đi phượt để trèo lên như mình qua 300 bậc thang để chụp hình cột cờ Lũng Cú rồi quay về Thái Nguyên, một niềm hảnh diện của tuổi trẻ làm mình chảy nước mắt vì tinh thần yêu nước của tui trẻ nầy vẫn còn nồng nàn, vẫn còn mãnh liệt trước hiểm họa của người phương bắc.
Hà Giang ngày 24/7/2018

Passages couverts de Paris (Các hành lang cổ kính của Ba Lê)

j050807 Art, Culture, Lịch sử, Văn Hóa, Villes , ,

Passage Colbert

Version vietnamienne
Version anglaise
Galerie des photos

Méconnus jusqu’à une date récente, les passages de Paris redeviennent aujourd’hui l’un des attraits touristiques et architecturaux de Paris. Dans les années 1850, Paris possède au moins 150 passages couverts et exporte le modèle vers d’autres villes françaises (Bordeaux, Nantes etc.) et vers l’étranger (Italie, Turquie, Grande-Bretagne etc.). C’est aussi  un modèle importé de Paris, le passage Eden dans lequel on était habitué à flâner à Saïgon (Vietnam) dans les années 1970.  Ces passages parisiens se regroupent sur la rive droite de la Seine, en particulier dans le quartier des Grands Boulevards. Plusieurs passages ont été démolis au profit de l’urbanisation entamée par les grands travaux du baron Haussman et de l’essor de grands magasins ( Le Bon Marché, la Samaritaine, le Printemps etc.). Il ne reste qu’une vingtaine de passages aujourd’hui à Paris. Ils font partie désormais du patrimoine architectural et mémoriel de la capitale.

Một cuộc du ngoạn thú vị ở Paris
qua các hành lang

 

Les passages couverts  de Paris

  • Passage  Choiseul  (Rue Saint Augustin)
  • Passage Colbert (Rue des Petits Champs)
  • Passage Vivienne (Rue Vivienne)
  • Passage des Panoramas ( Boulevard Montmartre)
  • Passage Jouffroy (Boulevard Montmartre)
  • Passage des princes (Boulevard des Italiens) 
  • Passage du Grand-Cerf ( Rue du Saint Denis ) 
  • Passage Brady ( Rue du Faubourg Saint Denis) 
  • Passage Verdeau (rue de la Grange-Batelière) etc

Galerie des photos

Passages_couverts-2

No Images found.

Version vietnamienne

Ít được biết đến trong thời gian qua, các hành lang của Paris trở lại hiên nay là một trong những nơi thu hút du khách ngoại quốc khi đến Paris. Trong những năm 1850, Paris có ít nhất 150 hành lang bao phủ và xuất khẩu mô hình nầy qua nhiều thành phố khác của Pháp như (Bordeaux, Nantes vân vân …) và các nước ngoài như Ý Đại Lợi, Thổ Nhi Kỳ, Anh Quốc vân vân….  Cũng với mô hình nầy mà hành lang Eden được xây cất có một trăm năm và người Saïgon có dip đến đây du ngoạn trong thập niên 70. Các hành lang Paris nầy được tập trung ở hữu ngạn của sông Seine, nhất là trong khu vực được gọi là « Les Grands Boulevards ». Nhiều hành lang bị phá hủy sau nầy trong việc thực hiện các công trình đồ sộ của bá tước Haussman và đáp lại sự phát triển của các cửa hàng lớn như Le Bon Marché, la Samaritaine, le Printemps vân vân … Nay chỉ còn lại khoảng chừng 20 hành lang ở Paris. Các hành lang nầy đươc xem hiện nay là di sản kiến trúc và lưu niệm của thành phố Paris.

Version anglaise

Unknown until recently, the passages of Paris are once again becoming one of the tourist and architectural attractions of the city. In the 1850s, Paris had at least 150 covered passages and exported the model to other French cities (Bordeaux, Nantes, etc.) and abroad (Italy, Turkey, Great Britain, etc.). It is also a model imported from Paris, the Eden passage, where people were accustomed to strolling in Saigon (Vietnam) in the 1970s. These Parisian passages are concentrated on the right bank of the Seine, particularly in the Grands Boulevards district. Several passages were demolished to make way for urbanization initiated by the major works of Baron Haussmann and the rise of department stores (Le Bon Marché, La Samaritaine, Printemps, etc.). Today, only about twenty passages remain in Paris. They are now part of the architectural and memorial heritage of the capital.

[Return PARIS et ses sites]

 

Sa Huynh culture (Văn Hóa Sa Huỳnh)

j050807 Art, Chămpa, Culture, Sa Huỳnh, Văn Hóa

Văn Hóa Sa Huỳnh 

 
sahuynh_titre
French version
Vietnamese version

Renowned for its salt marshes and beautiful beach, Sa Huỳnh (*) located in Quảng Ngãi province (Central Vietnam) is also the region where the French archaeologist Mr. Vinet discovered in 1909, not far from the An Khê marsh in Long Thạnh, a strange deposit of 200 funerary jars from a brilliant maritime civilization with the help of a Cham inscription. Thanks to a fortunate coincidence, Mrs. Labarre, wife of a local customs office controller and passionate about archaeology, had the opportunity to resume archaeological excavation in 1923. She soon found another deposit of 120 intact terracotta jars on top of coastal dunes near the village of Phú Khương in the same region. A third site of 187 jars, later reported by the French archaeologist Madeleine Colani in 1934, was located in Tràng Long on a sand dune locally called the « necklace plateau » because of the enormous quantity of necklaces found there.

She was also the first archaeologist to use the scientific term Sa Huỳnh to attribute it to this culture. Then it was the turn of the Swedish archaeologist O. Jansé to discover in 1939 at Phú Khương (Sa Huỳnh) a necropolis of 84 jars. This discovery was revealed late in a brief report. Then further south, near Xuân Lộc, at Hàng Gòn (Long Khánh, Đồng Nai), Dầu Giây, and Phú Hoà, fields of jars similar to those of Sa Huỳnh were discovered despite their location in the area belonging to the Đồng Nai civilization (Văn hóa Nam Bộ) during recent works by E. Saurin (1973) and H. Fontaine (1972).

Earings

van-hoa-sa-huynh


(*) Originally, the name Sa Hoàng was given to this region.
As the word Hoàng was the first name of Lord Nguyễn Hoàng,
the Nguyễn Dynasty subsequently changed Hoàng to Huỳnh.

sahuynh

It is observed that these are from the Sa Huynh culture era, with radiocarbon datings performed on charcoal debris and shards contained in these jars. One must not forget to mention the fields of large monolithic jars and enigmatic funerary stones of Trần Ninh (or Xieng Khouang) (Laos), dubiously attributed to the 1st century AD by Madeleine Colani (1932), which continue to keep all their secrets to this day and leave us with an insatiable curiosity about the connection and influence they might have with the Sa Huỳnh culture. This culture was supposed to have originated from the stone jar culture of Trần Ninh, according to Madeleine Colani in her work titled « Megaliths of Upper Laos. »

Contemporary with the Dong Son civilization in the Red River Delta, this one was flourishing along the Vietnamese coast in central Vietnam (from Thừa Thiên Huế to Ninh Thuận, Bình Thuận) between 1000 BC and 200 AD before the Hinduization of the coastal region. Its sites were largely discovered near dunes, ponds, and rivers. For this reason, it is also called the « civilization of dunes and ponds » (or Văn hoá cồn bàu in Vietnamese). Its traces have been found not only in the Central Highlands (Tây Nguyên) but also in the Cù Lao Chàm archipelago (Quảng Nam), Cù Lao Ré island (Quảng Ngãi), and the islets of Nha Trang (Khánh Hoà), which clearly proves that the people of the Sa Huynh culture were excellent navigators.

Its close contact with the Đồng Nai civilization was no longer in doubt during the excavations carried out at the Giồng Phệt and Giồng Cá Vồ sites (Cần Giờ, about fifty kilometers from Saigon) because some prominent elements of the Sa Huynh culture were found there in terms of pottery and ornamentation. The decoration methods found in the Sa Huynh culture are done either by incision or by impression but rarely by painting. The dotted decoration is very common. It is sometimes incised with crossed lines, on the shell or dotted linearly in triangular areas. The colors frequently used are red and lead black (đen ánh chì). It is believed that as early as the third millennium BC, a common decorative repertoire was established in Southeast Asia (frequency of the double spiral, saw teeth, dotted lines, sinuous bands with hooks, alternating or inverted triangles, etc.) which visibly flourished on the jars and pottery of Sa Huynh.

The sites connected or closely related to the Sa Huynh culture often drew inspiration from it or used it. This is the case with the Kalanay cave on Masbate Island (Philippines), where, according to William Solheim II, discovered burials yielded pottery similar to that of Sa Huynh. However, the Vietnamese archaeologist Hà Văn Tấn believes that this hypothesis needs to be further explored with additional evidence, although it is likely. The Buni culture, which developed from 400 BC to 100 AD on the northern coast of the western part of Java Island, is characterized by clay pottery with incised and geometric decorative patterns, also showing similarities with that of the Sa Huynh culture.

1): W.G. Solheim, 1964, The archaeology of central Philippines. A study chiefly of the iron age and its relationships , 
Manila, National Institut of Sciences and Technology, monograph 10.
(2): Theo dấu văn hóa cổ. Hà Văn Tấn. Nhà Xuất Bản Khoa Học xã hội Hà Nội, Hà nội 1998

Lire la suite

Duy Tân (1907-1916) (English version)

j050807 Histoire, Lịch sử, Vietnam , ,

duytan_empereur

Version française

Version vietnamienne

 A great homage to the man who has dedicated all his life for his people and his country.

Một đời vì nước vì dân
Vĩnh San đứa trẻ không cần ngôi vua
Tù đày tử nhục khi thua
Tử rồi khí phách ông vua muôn đời

With the agreement of the Vietnamese authorities, the ashes of emperor Duy Tân interred up to now in the Republic of Central Africa were gathered with great pomp on April 4th, 1987 in Huế, the city of imperial mausoleums of the Nguyen dynasty. This has brought an end to a long and painful banishment that has had prince Vĩnh San often known as Duy Tân ( or Friend of Reforms ) since his uprising plan against the colonial authorities was discovered on May 4, 1916 because of the treason of a collaborator, Nguyễn Ðình Trứ.

Duy Tân is an outstanding character that none of the last emperors of the Nguyễn dynasty could be equal to. One can only regret his sudden disappearance due to a plane crash that took place at the end of 1945 on his way back from a mission from Vietnam. His death continues to feed doubt and remains one of the mysteries not elucidated until today. One found in him at that time not only the unequal popularity he knew how to acquire from his people, the royal legitimacy, but also an undeniable francophile, an alternative solution that general De Gaulle contemplated to propose to the Vietnamese at the last moment to counter the young revolutionary Hồ Chí Minh in Indochina. If he had been alive, Vietnam probably would not have known the ill-fated decades of its history and been the victim of the East-West confrontation and the cold war.

It is a profound regret that every Vietnamese could only feel when talking about him, his life and his fate. It is also a misfortune for the Vietnamese people to have lost a great statesman, to have written their history with blood and tears during the last decades.

His ascension to the throne remains a unique occurrence in the Annals of history of Vietnam. Taking advantage of suspicious anti-french schemes and the disguised lunacy of his father, emperor Thành Thái, the colonial authorities compelled the latter to abdicate in 1907 and go into exile in the Reunion at the age of 28. They requested that Prime Minister Trương Như Cường assume the regency. However this one while categorically refusing this proposal, kept demanding the colonial authorities to strictly respect the definite agreement in the Patenôtre Treaty of Protectorate (1884) providing that the throne comes back to one of the emperor’s sons in case he ceases reigning ( Phụ truyền tử kế ). Facing popular opinion and the infallible fidelity of Trương Như Cương to the Nguyen dynasty, the colonial authorities were forced to choose one of his sons as emperor. They did not hide their intention of choosing the one that seemed docile and without caliber. Except Vĩnh San, all of about 20 other sons of emperor Thành Thái were present at the moment of selection made by the General Resident Sylvain Levecque. The name Vĩnh San missed at the roll-call, which forced everyone to look for him everywhere.

Finally he was found under the beam of a frame, his face covered with mud and soak with sweat. He was chasing the crickets. Seeing him in this sordid condition, Sylvain Levecque did not hide his satisfaction because he thought only a fool would choose the day of ascession to the throne to go chasing the crickets. Upon the recommendation of his close collaborator Charles, he decided to designate him as emperor of Annam as he found in front of him a seven-year old child, timid, reserved, having no political ambition and thinking only to devote himself to games like children of his age. It was an erroneous judgment as stated in the comment of a French journalist at that time in his local newspaper:

 A day on the throne has completely changed the face of an eight-year old child. 

One noticed a few years later that the journalist was right because Duy Tân has dedicated all his life for his people and his country until his last breath of life.
At the time of his ascension to the throne he was only 7. To give him a stature of an emperor, they had to give him one more year of age. That is why in the Annals of history of Vietnam, he was brought to the throne at 8 years of age. To deal with this erroneous designation, the colonial authorities installed a council of regency constituted of Vietnamese personalities close to General Resident Sylvain Levecque ( Tôn Thất Hân, Nguyễn Hữu Bài, Huỳnh Côn, Miên Lịch, Lê Trinh, Cao Xuân Dục) to assist the emperor in the management of the country and requested that Eberhard, the father-in-law of Charles be Duy Tân’s tutor. It was a way to closely supervise the activities of this young man.

Trần Cao Vân

In spite of that, Duy Tân succeeded in evading the surveillance network placed by the colonial authorities. He was one of the fierce partisans for the revision of the Patenotre agreements (1884). He was the architect of several reforms: Tax and chore duty reduction, elimination of wasteful court protocols, reduction of his own salary etc… He forcefully protested the profanation of emperor Tự Ðức’s tomb by General Resident Mahé in his search for gold, with the governor of Indochina Albert Sarraut. He claimed the right to look at the management of the country. This marked the prelude of dissension which grew more and more visible between him and the French Superior Resident. On May 4, 1916, with Trần Cao Vân and Thái Phiên, he fomented a rebellion which was discovered and put down due to the treason of one of his collaborators. Despite his capture and flattering advice of the Governor of Indochina asking him to reexamine his comportment and conduct, he continued be impassible and said: 

If you compelled me to remain emperor of Annam, you should consider me as an adult emperor. I should need neither the council of regency nor your advice. I should manage the country’s business on the same footing with all foreign countries including France.

Facing his unwavering conviction, the colonial authorities had to assign the Minister of Instructions of that time, the father-in-law of future emperor Khải-Ðịnh, Hồ Ðắc Trung to institute proceedings against his treason toward France. For not compromising Duy Tân, the two older collaborators Trần Cao Vân and Thái Phiên made it known to Hồ Đắc Trung their intent to voluntarily accept the verdict provided that emperor Duy Tân was exempt from the capital punishment. They kept saying:

The sky is still there. So are the earth and the dynasty. We wish long live to the emperor.

 

Faithful to the Nguyen dynasty, Hồ Ðắc Trung only condemned the emperor to exile in justifying the fact that he was a minor and that the responsibility of the plot rested with the older collaborators Trần Cao Vân and Thái Phiên.

The men were guillotined at An Hoà. As for emperor Duy Tân, he was condemned to exile to the Reunion on November 3, 1916 on board of the steamship Avardiana. The day before his departure, the representative of the General Resident visited him and asked:

Sir, if you need money you may take it from the state coffer.

Duy Tân replied politely :

The money that you find in the coffer is intended to help the king to govern the country but it does not belong to me in anyway especially to a political prisoner.

To entertain the king, the representative did not hesitate to remind him that it was possible to choose preferred books in the library and take them with him during his exile because he knew the king loved to read very much. He agreed to that proposal and told him:

I love reading very much. If you have the chance to bring books for me, don’t forget to bring the entirety of all the volumes of « History of the French Revolution » of Michelet.

The representative dared not report to the Resident what Duy Tan had told him.

His exile marked not only the end of the imperial resistance and the struggle monopolized and animated up until then by the scholars for the defense of the Confucian order and the imperial state but also the beginning of a national movement and the emergence of a state nationalism placed in birth by the great patriot scholar Phan Bội Châu. It was also a lost chance for France for not taking the initiative to give freedom to Vietnam in the person of Duy Tân, a francophile of the first hour.

His destiny is that of the Vietnamese people. For a certain time, one has deliberately made all streets bearing his name disappear in big cities ( Hànội, Huế, Sàigon ) in Vietnam, but one cannot forever erase his cherished name in his people’s heart and in our collective memory. He is not the rival of anybody but he is on the contrary 

the last great emperor of Viet Nam.

To this title I dedicate to him the following four verses:

Devoting his whole life to his country and people,
Duy Tan the kid did not hang on to his throne.
Facing exile and humility when defeated,
His uprightness lives forever in history unabated.

Thành Thái (1879-1954) (English version)

j050807 Histoire, Lịch sử, Vietnam , ,

Thành Thái 

Version française

Version vietnamienne

A great homage to a man who devoted his whole life for his country and people through my Six-Eight verses:

Ta điên vì nước vì dân
Ta nào câm điếc một lần lên ngôi
Trăm ngàn tủi nhục thế thôi
Lưu đày thể xác than ôi cũng đành

His madness for the love of  his country  and people.

I am mad for the love of my country and people
Once on the throne, I can’t stay deaf-mute
It wouldn’t matter I feel self pity and shame
And my body suffers years of exile with resignation

Prior to becoming emperor Thành Thái, he was known as Bửu Lân. He was the son of emperor Dục Ðức who had been vilely assassinated by the two Confucianist mandarins Tôn Thất Thuyết and Nguyễn Văn Tường, and the grand son of the mandarin Phan Ðình Bình. Because the latter was maladroitly opposed to the enthronement of emperor Ðồng Khánh by the colonial authorities, Ðồng Khánh was fast to take revenge by cowardly getting rid of this old mandarin and by putting Bửu Lân and his mother under house surveillance within the surrounding wall of the purple city at the Trần Võ palace in order to avoid all seeds of revolt. That was why at Ðồng Khánh’s death and upon the announcement of the choice of her son as the successor by the colonial authorities, Buu Lan’s mother was surprised and cried so much because she was always obsessed by the idea that her son would probably meet the same fate as her husband, emperor Dục Đức and her father, the mandarin Phan Ðình Bình. If Buu Lan was preferred to other princes, it was incontestably due to the ingenuities of Diệp Văn Cương, the presumed lover of his aunt, princess Công Nữ Thiên Niệm because Diệp Vân Cương was Resident General Rheinart‘s personal secretary, in charge of conducting business with the Imperial Court to find a compromise on the person to be chosen to succeed emperor Ðồng Khánh.

Thus he involuntarily became our new emperor known as Thành Thái. He was fast to realize that his power was very limited, that the Patenôtre treaty was never respected and that he had no right with regard to the management and future of his country. Contrary to his predecessor Ðồng Khánh, close to the colonial authorities, he took a passive resistance by trying to thwart their policies in a systematic manner with his provoking remarks and amicable gestures. His fist virulent altercation with the Resident General Alexis Auvergne was noticed at the inaugural ceremony of the new bridge spanning across the Perfume river. Proud of technical prowess and confident of the sturdiness of the bridge, Alexis Auvergne did not hesitate to tell Thành Thái with his habitual cynicism:

When you would have seen this bridge collapse, your country would be independent.

To show the importance that the colonial authorities has given to the new bridge, they named it « Thành Thái ». This made the emperor mad. Using as a pretext that everyone can walk over his head when crossing the bridge, he forbade his subjects to call the bridge by its new name and incited them to use the old name « Tràng Tiền ».

Tràng Tiền bridge (Huế)

Some years later, the bridge collapsed during a violent storm. Thành Thái was fast to recall Alexis Auvergne of what he had said with his black humor. Alexis Auvergne was red with shame and had to clear off at these embarrassing remarks. The dissension with the authorities grew day by day until the replacement of the old Resident General by Sylvain Levecque. The latter was fast to place a network of strict surveillance when he learned that Thanh Thai continued to approach his people through the bias of his reforms and his disguise in plain clothes or as a beggar in villages. He was the first emperor of Vietnam to take the initiative of having his hair cut the European fashion, which astonished so many of his mandarins and subjects when he first appeared. But he also was the first emperor to encourage his subjects to follow French education. He was the artisan of several architectural projects. He was also the first emperor of the Nguyen dynasty who wanted to pay enormous attention to the daily life of his subjects and to know their daily difficulties. It was reported that during an escorted excursion, he met on his way a poor man who was hauling a heavy load of bamboo. He body guard wanted to ease the way but he stopped him by saying:

I am neither citizen nor emperor as I should be in this country. Why do you chase him away?

During his excursions, he often used to sit on a mat, surrounded by the villagers and to discuss all the issues with them. It was in one of his excursion that he brought back to the purple city an oarswoman who accepted to marry him and became his concubine. He was well known as an excellent drummer.

That is why he summoned all the best drummers in the country to the purple city, asked them to play drums before his court and reward them generously according to their merit. It was reported that one day, he met a drummer who used to tilt his head when playing. Wanting to help him correct this funny habit, he told him jokingly:

If you keep on playing that way, I will have to have your head rolled.

From then on, the drummer, worrying incessantly about the next call, was overwhelmed by fear and died of a heart attack. One day, knowing the death of the drummer, Thanh Thai was taken my remorse, summoned his family and gave them a large sum of money to take care of their daily needs.

His way of joking, his frequent disguises, his sometimes strange behavior incomprehensible to the colonial authorities gave them an opportunity to brand him a lunatic.

As for Thành Thái, he was deported first to Vũng Tàu (former Cap St. Jacques) in the Fall of 1907, then later to the Reunion Island with his son, emperor Duy Tân in 1916. He was only allowed to return to Vietnam in 1945 after the death of Duy Tân and to stay confined within Vũng Tàu, South Vietnam during the last years of his life.

Is it possible to brand him lunatic when it is known through his poem titled « Hoài Cổ » (Remember the Past) that Thành Thái was so lucid and never stopped to groan with the pain facing the alarming situation of his country? Other eight seven-foot verses we know such as The storm of the year of the Dragon in 1904 ( Vịnh Trần Bão Năm Thìn ) or Profession of Faith (Cảm Hoài) not only show Thành Thai’s perfect mastery in the strict application of the difficult rules in Vietnamese poetry but also the painful pride of a great emperor who, in spite of a forced exile for almost half a century ( 1907-1954 ) by the colonial authorities, continued to display his conviction and unshakable faith in the liberation of his country. Through him it is already seen forging on this land of legends the instruments of a future revolt.

For him, his incurable illness was the goal to realize his intention, to give his people the dignity so long waited and to show future generations the sacrifice and the price which even he, a person considered alienated by the colonial authorities, had to pay for that country (47 years of exile). In the political context of the time, he should not reveal himself of this « illness ».

Up to now, no historic document show us Thành Thái’s insanity but rather it reveals a great emperor’s lunacy of the love of his country and people, never ending affliction of a great patriot facing the destiny of his country.

Yin and Yang numbers (Âm Dương: Part 3)

j050807 Culture, Traditions, Văn Hóa, Vietnam , ,


Yin and Yang numbers (Con số Âm Dương)

Version vietnamienne

Version française

We are used to saying in Vietnamese: sống chết đều có số cả (Everyone has their D-day for life as well as for death). Ði buôn có số, ăn cỗ có phần (One has their vocation for trade just as one has their share at a feast). In everyday life, everyone has their size for clothes and shoes. It is noticed that, unlike the Chinese who adore even numbers, the Vietnamese rather favor odd numbers (số âm) over even numbers (số dương).

The frequent use of odd numbers is found in Vietnamese expressions: ba mặt một lời (One needs to be face to face in the presence of a witness), ba hồn bảy vía (three souls and seven vital supports for humans, i.e., one is panicked), Ba chìm bảy nổi chín lênh đênh (very turbulent), năm thê bảy thiếp (having 5 wives and 7 concubines, i.e., having multiple wives), năm lần bảy lượt (several times), năm cha ba mẹ (heterogeneous), ba chóp bảy nhoáng (hastily and carelessly), Một lời nói dối, sám hối 7 ngày (A lying word equals seven days of repentance), Một câu nhịn chín câu lành (Avoiding one offensive phrase is like having nine kind phrases), etc. or those involving multiples of the number 9: 18 (9×2) đời Hùng Vương (18 legendary Hùng Vương kings), 27 (9×3) đại tang 3 năm (27 months) (or a mourning period of three years which actually translates to only 27 months), 36 (9×4) phố phường Hà Nội (Hanoi with 36 districts), etc.

We must also not forget to mention the numbers 5 and 9, each having a very important role. The number 5 is the most mysterious number because everything begins from this number. Heaven and Earth have the 5 elements or agents (Ngũ hành) that give birth to all things and beings. It is placed at the center of the River Map (Hà Đồ) and the Luo River Writing (Lạc thư), which form the basis of the transformation of the 5 elements (Thủy, Hỏa, Mộc, Kim, Thổ) (Water, Fire, Wood, Metal, and Earth).

It is associated with the Earth element in the central position, which the farmer needs to know the direction of the cardinal points. This thus returns to man the center in managing things, species, and the four cardinal points. For this reason, in feudal society, this place was reserved for the king because he was the one who governed the people. Consequently, the number 5 belonged to him, as did the color yellow symbolizing the Earth. This explains the color chosen by Vietnamese and Chinese emperors for their garments.

Besides the center occupied by man, a symbolic animal is associated with each of the four cardinal points: the North by the turtle, the South by the phoenix, the East by the tiger, and the West by the dragon. It is not surprising to find at least in this attribution the three animals living in a region where agricultural life plays a significant role and water is vital.

Ho Tou Lo Chou

(Hà Đồ Lạc Thư)

 This is the territory of the Bai Yue. Even a dragon, so fierce in other cultures, becomes a gentle and noble animal imagined by the peaceful peoples of the Bai Yue. The number 5 is also known as « Tham Thiên Lưỡng Đia » (or ba Trời hai Ðất or 3 Yang 2 Yin) in the theory of Yin and Yang because obtaining the number 5 from the combination of the numbers 3 and 2 corresponds better to the reasonable percentage of Yin and Yang than that resulting from the combination of the numbers 4 and 1.

In the latter, one notices that the Yang number 1 is greatly dominated by the Yin number 4. This is not the case with the combination of numbers 3 and 2, where the Yang number 3 slightly dominates the (Yin) number 2. This favors the development of the universe in an almost perfect harmony. In the past, the fifth day, the fourteenth day (1+4=5), and the twenty-third day (2+3=5) of the month were reserved for the king’s outings. It was forbidden for subjects to conduct business during his travels and to disturb his walk. This may be the reason why many Vietnamese today, influenced by this ancestral tradition, continue to avoid choosing these days for building houses, traveling, and making important purchases. It is customary to say in Vietnamese:

Chớ đi ngày bảy chớ về ngày ba
Mồng năm, mười bốn hai ba
Đi chơi cũng lỗ nữa là đi buôn
Mồng năm mười bốn hai ba
Trồng cây cây đỗ, làm nhà nhà xiêu

Do not go on the seventh day, do not return on the third day
The fifth, fourteenth, twenty-third
Going out is also a loss, let alone trading
The fifth, fourteenth, twenty-third
Planting trees, the trees fail; building houses, the houses collapse.

You should avoid leaving on the 7th day and returning on the 3rd day of the month. On the 5th, 14th, and 23rd days of the month, you would be at a loss if you go out or do business. Similarly, you would see the fall of a tree or the tilting of your house if you plant it or build it on those days.

The number 5 is frequently mentioned in Vietnamese culinary art. The most typical sauce of the Vietnamese remains fish sauce. In the preparation of this national sauce, there are 5 flavors classified according to the 5 elements of Yin and Yang: salty (mặn) with fish juice (nước mắm), bitter (đắng) with lemon zest (vỏ chanh), sour (chua) with lemon juice (or vinegar), spicy (cay) with crushed or powdered chili peppers, and sweet (ngọt) with powdered sugar. These five flavors (mặn, đắng, chua, cay, ngọt) combined and found in the Vietnamese national sauce correspond respectively to the 5 elements defined in the Yin and Yang theory (Thủy, Hỏa, Mộc, Kim, Thổ) (Water, Fire, Wood, Metal, and Earth).

Similarly, these 5 flavors are found in the sweet and sour soup (canh chua) prepared with fish: sour with tamarind seeds or vinegar, sweet with pineapple slices, spicy with sliced chili peppers, salty with fish sauce, and bitter with some okra (đậu bắp) or with the flowers of the fayotier (bông so đũa). When this soup is served, a few fragrant herbs are added, such as panicaut (ngò gai), rau om (an herb with a flavor close to coriander but with an additional lemony note). This is a characteristic feature of the sweet and sour soup of Southern Vietnam and different from those found in other regions of Vietnam.

We cannot forget to mention the glutinous rice cake that the Proto-Vietnamese succeeded in passing down to their descendants over the millennia of their civilization. This cake is tangible proof of the belonging of the Yin and Yang theory and its five elements to the Hundred Yue, of which the Proto-Vietnamese were a part, because in the making of this cake, the generative cycle of these 5 elements (Ngũ hành tương sinh)  found.

(Fire->Earth->Metal->Water->Wood)

Inside the cake, one finds a piece of porkmeat in red color ( Fire ) around which there is  a kind of paste made with broad beans in yellow color ( Earth ). The whole thing is wrapped by the sticky rice in white color ( Metal ) to be cooked with boiling water ( Water ) before having a green colouring on its surface thanks to the latanier leaves (Wood).

There is another cake that cannot be missing at weddings. It is the susê or phu-Thê cake (husband-wife), which has a round shape inside and is wrapped in banana leaves (green color) to give it the appearance of a cube tied with a red ribbon. The circle is thus placed inside the square (Yang within Yin). This cake is made of tapioca flour, scented with pandan, and sprinkled with black sesame seeds. At the heart of this cake is a paste made from steamed soybeans (yellow color), lotus seed jam, and grated coconut (white color). This paste closely resembles the frangipane found in king cakes. Its sticky texture recalls the strong bond that one wishes to represent in the union. This cake is the symbol of the perfection of marital love and loyalty in perfect harmony with Heaven and Earth and the five elements symbolized by the five colors (red, green, black, yellow, and white).

This cake is recounted by the following tale: once upon a time, there was a merchant indulging in debauchery and not thinking of returning to his family, although before his departure, his wife gave him the susê cake and promised to remain warm and sweet like the cake. That is why, upon learning this news, his wife sent him other phu thê cakes accompanied by the following two verses:

Từ ngày chàng bước xuống ghe
Sóng bao nhiêu đợt bánh phu thê rầu bấy nhiêu

Since your departure, as many waves as were met by your boat, so many afflictions were known by the susê cake.

Lầu Ngũ Phụng

 

In architecture, the number 5 is not forgotten either. This is the case of the meridian gate of the Huế citadel, which is a powerful masonry mass pierced by five passages and topped with an elegant two-level wooden structure, the Belvedere of the Five Phoenixes (Lầu Ngũ Phụng).

Seen as a whole, it resembles a grouping of 5 phoenixes intimately perched with their wings spread. This belvedere has one hundred ironwood columns painted red, supporting its nine roofs. This number 100 has been carefully examined by Vietnamese specialists. For the renowned archaeologist Phan Thuận An, it corresponds exactly to the total number obtained by adding the two numbers found respectively in the River Map (Hà Ðồ) and the Luo River Script (Lạc thư cửu tinh đồ), symbolizing the perfect harmony of the union of Yin and Yang. This is not the opinion of another specialist, Liễu Thượng Văn. According to him, it represents the strength of 100 families or the people (bách tính) and reflects well the notion dân vi bản (taking the people as the foundation) in the governance of the Nguyễn dynasty.

The roof of the central pavilion is covered with yellow « lưu ly » tiles, the others with blue « lưu ly » tiles. The main gate, right in the middle, is the meridian gate (Ngọ Môn) paved with « Thanh » stones dyed yellow, dedicated to the passage of the king. On both sides, there are the Left Gate and the Right Gate (Tả, Hữu, Giáp Môn) reserved for civil and military mandarins. Then the two other side gates Tả Dịch Môn and Hữu Dịch Môn are intended for soldiers and horses. That is why it is customary to say in Vietnamese: 

Ngọ Môn năm cửa chín lầu
Một lầu vàng, tám lầu xanh, ba cửa thẳng, hai cửa quanh »

The Meridian Gate has 5 passages and nine roofs, one of which is varnished in yellow and the other eight in green. There are three main doors and two side doors.
To the east and west of the citadel, there are the Gate of Humanity and the Gate of Virtue, which are reserved respectively for men and women.

The number 9 is a Yang number (or odd). It represents the power of yang at its maximum and is difficult to reach. That is why in the past the emperor often used it to show his power and supremacy. He climbed the nine steps symbolizing the ascent of the sacred mountain where his throne was located. According to legend, the Forbidden City of Huế, like that of Beijing, had 9,999 rooms. It is worth recalling that the Forbidden City of Beijing was supervised by a Vietnamese named Nguyễn An, who was exiled at a very young age during the Ming dynasty. The emperor, like each of his palaces, faces south, towards the Yang energy, so that the emperor receives the vital breath of the sun because he is the Son of Heaven. In Vietnam, there are the nine dynastic urns of the citadel of Huế, the nine branches of the Mekong River, the nine roofs of the Five Phoenixes pavilion, etc. In the tale titled « The Mountain Spirit and the River Spirit (Sơn Tinh Thủy Tinh), » the eighteenth (2×9) Hùng Vương king proposed as a dowry for his daughter Mị Nương’s marriage: an elephant with 9 tusks, a rooster with 9 spurs, and a horse with 9 red manes. The number 9 symbolizes the Sky, whose birth date is the ninth day of the month of February.

Less important than the numbers 5 and 9, the number 3 (or Ba or Tam in Vietnamese) is closely linked to the daily life of the Vietnamese. They do not hesitate to mention it in a great number of popular expressions. To signify a certain limit, a certain degree, they habitually say:

Không ai giàu ba họ, không ai khó ba đời.
No one can claim to be wealthy for three generations just as no one is unfortunate for three successive lives.

It often happens to the Vietnamese that they do not complete a certain task in one go, which forces them to perform the operation up to three times. This is the expression they frequently use: Nhất quá Tam. It is the number three, a limit they do not wish to exceed in accomplishing this task.

To say that someone is irresponsible, they refer to them as « Ba trợn. » One who is opportunistic is called Ba phải. The expression « Ba đá » is reserved for vulgar people, while those who keep getting entangled in small matters or endless troubles receive the title « Ba lăng nhăng. » To weigh their words, the Vietnamese need to fold the three thumbs of their tongue. (Uốn Ba tấc lưỡi).

The number 3 also is synonymous with insignificant and unimportant something.It is what one finds in following popular expressions: 

Ăn sơ sài ba hột: To eat a little bit.
Ăn ba miếng: idem
Sách ba xu: book without values. (the book costs only three  pennies).
Ba món ăn chơi: Some  dishes  for tasting. 

Analogous to number 3, the number 7 is often mentioned in Vietnamese literature. One cannot ignore either the expression Bảy nỗi ba chìm với nước non  (I  float 7 times  and I descend thee times if this  expression is translated in verbatim) that Hồ Xuân Hương poetess  has used and immortalized in her poem intituled « Bánh trôi nước” :

Thân em vừa trắng lại vừa tròn
Bây nỗi ba chìm với nước non
………. 

for describing difficulties encountered by the Vietnamese woman in a feudal and Confucian society. This one did not spare either those having an independent mind, freedom and justice.   It is the case of  Cao Bá Quát , an active scholar who was degusted from the scholastica of his time and dreamed of replacing the Nguyễn authoritarian monarchy by an enlightened monarchy. Accused of being the actor of the grasshoppers insurrection  (Giặc Châu Chấu) in 1854, he was condemned to death and he did no hesitate his reflection on the fate reserved to those who dared to criticize  the despotism and feudal society in his poem before his death: 

Ba hồi trống giục đù cha kiếp
Một nhát gươm đưa, đéo mẹ đời. 

Three gongs are reserved to the miserable fate
A sabre slice finishes this dog’s life. 

If the Yin and Yang theory continues to haunt their mind for its mystical and impenetrable character, it remains however a way of thinking and living to which a good number  of the Vietnamese continue to refer daily for common practices and respect of ancestral traditions.

Bibliography

–Xu Zhao Long : Chôkô bunmei no hakken, Chûgoku kodai no nazo in semaru (Découverte de la civilisation du Yanzi. A la recherche des mystères de l’antiquité chinoise, Tokyo, Kadokawa-shoten 1998).
-Yasuda Yoshinori : Taiga bunmei no tanjô, Chôkô bunmei no tankyû (Naissance des civilisations des grands fleuves. Recherche sur la civilisation du Yanzi), Tôkyô, Kadokawa-shoten, 2000).
-Richard Wilhelm : Histoire de la civilisation chinoise 1931
-Nguyên Nguyên: Thử đọc lại truyền thuyết Hùng Vương
– Léonard Rousseau: La première conquête chinoise des pays annamites (IIIe siècle avant notre ère). BEFO, année 1923, Vol 23, no 1
-Paul Pozner : Le problème des chroniques vietnamiennes., origines et influences étrangères. BEFO, année 1980, vol 67, no 67, p 275-302
-Dich Quốc Tã : Văn Học sữ Trung Quốc, traduit en vietnamien par Hoàng Minh Ðức 1975.
-Norman Jerry- Mei tsulin (1976) : The Austro asiatic in south China : some lexical evidence, Monumenta Serica 32 :274-301
-Henri Maspero : Chine Antique : 1927.
-Jacques Lemoine : Mythes d’origine, mythes d’identification. L’homme 101, paris, 1987 XXVII pp 58-85
-Fung Yu Lan: A History of Chinese Philosophy ( traduction vietnamienne Đại cương triết học sử Trung Quốc” (SG, 1968).68, tr. 140-151)).
-Alain Thote: Origine et premiers développements de l’épée en Chine.
-Cung Ðình Thanh: Trống đồng Ðồng Sơn : Sự tranh luận về chủ quyền trống
đồng giữa h ọc giã Việt và Hoa.Tập San Tư Tưởng Tháng 3 năm 2002 số 18.
-Brigitte Baptandier : En guise d’introduction. Chine et anthropologie. Ateliers 24 (2001). Journée d’étude de l’APRAS sur les ethnologies régionales à Paris en 1993.
-Nguyễn Từ Thức : Tãn Mạn về Âm Dương, chẳn lẻ (www.anviettoancau.net)
-Trần Ngọc Thêm: Tìm về bản sắc văn hóa Việt-Nam. NXB : Tp Hồ Chí Minh Tp HCM 2001.
-Nguyễn Xuân Quang: Bản sắc văn hóa việt qua ngôn ngữ việt (www.dunglac.org)
-Georges Condominas : La guérilla viêt. Trait culturel majeur et pérenne de l’espace social vietnamien, L’Homme 2002/4, N° 164, p. 17-36.
-Louis Bezacier: Sur la datation d’une représentation primitive de la charrue. (BEFO, année 1967, volume 53, pages 551-556)
-Ballinger S.W. & all: Southeast Asian mitochondrial DNA Analysis reveals genetic continuity of ancient Mongoloid migration, Genetics 1992 vol 130 p.139-152….

Yin and Yang theory (Âm Dương : Phần 1)

j050807 Culture, Traditions, Văn Hóa, Vietnam , ,

yinyangviet

French version 

Vietnamese version

The theory of Yin and Yang continues to be closely linked to the daily life of the Vietnamese and finds its application in all fields. Everything that is fluid, cold, humid, passive, dark, internal, immobile, of feminine essence such as the sky, the moon, the night, water, winter, is of Yin nature. Everything that is solid, warm, bright, active, external, mobile, of masculine essence such as the earth, the sun, fire, summer, is of Yang nature.

This Yin and Yang characteristic is even found in Vietnamese grammar through the use of the words « con » and « cái« . Analogous to the definite articles « le » and « la » in French, these are used to indicate gender in certain restricted cases, but one can also base their use on the « mobile » or « immobile » nature of the object they accompany to indicate its belonging to the corresponding semantic class. The word « cái » is used when the object has the « immobile » character (tĩnh vật): cái nhà (house), cái hang (cave), cái nồi (pot), etc. On the other hand, when the « mobile » state (động vật) is part of the nature of the object, the word « con » is used to precede it. This is the case for the following words: con mắt (eye), con tim (heart), con trăng (snake), con ngươi (pupil), con dao (knife), etc.

The eye moves constantly just as the heart beats. Likewise, the snake moves just like the pupil. The knife is considered by the Vietnamese as a sacred animal. It is nourished with blood, wine, and rice. The same name given to an object can lead to two different interpretations depending on the use of the word « cái » or « con. » The following example translates the mobile (con) or immobile (cái) nature of the object thuyền (or boat in French) used: Con thuyền trôi theo dòng nước (The boat moves along the water). This means that someone is making the boat move with the oar or with the engine. On the other hand, when one says « cái thuyền trôi theo dòng nước » (The boat moves along the water), the emphasis is on the fact that there is no one maneuvering the boat. It is the flow of the water that makes the boat move by itself. This notes the immobile nature of the boat. The influence of Yin and Yang is not unrelated to the way the gender is sometimes attributed to common objects. This is the case with the knife (dao): dao cái (large knife), dao đực or dao rựa (or machete). This observation was noted by Alain Thote, the French archaeologist and sinologist, in his article entitled « Origin and Early Developments of the Sword in China« : The swords of Yue enjoyed great fame in antiquity.

This is the case of the fish entrails sword that the butcher named Zhuan Zhu (Chuyên Chư) used to assassinate the Liao sovereign (Ngô Vương Liêu) of the state of Wu (nước Ngô) during the Spring and Autumn period (Xuân Thu), etc. Some swords bore a name and could be masculine or feminine. The expression « đực rựa, » often heard in conversations to refer to men, comes from the old Vietnamese custom of carrying machetes when going out.

The association of sexes has also been visible for a long time in Vietnam in rice cultivation: the man plows and the woman transplants. The plowshare that pierces the earth (âm) (Yin) symbolizes the male sex (Yang) (dương), while through transplanting, the woman transmits her fertilizing power (âm) (Yin) to the rice plants (dương) (Yang). To denote the perfect harmony in the union of Yin and Yang, it is customary to say in Vietnamese: United, husband and wife can scoop all the water from the Eastern Sea. (thuận vợ thuận chồng tát biển Đông cũng cạn).

Being rice farmers, the Proto-Vietnamese were attached not only to the land but also to the environment because, thanks to natural phenomena (rain, sun, wind, clouds, etc.), they could have good harvests or not. Extensive rice cultivation by slash-and-burn or in naturally flooded fields depended on climate uncertainties. That is why they needed to live in harmony with nature.

They considered themselves the link between Heaven and Earth (Thiên-Nhân-Địa). Based on this notion, it is common to say in Vietnamese: Thiên Thời, Địa Lợi, Nhân Hòa (being aware of weather conditions, knowing the terrain well, and having popular support or national harmony). These are the three key factors of victory often referenced by Vietnamese strategists (Trần Hưng Đạo, Nguyễn Trãi, Quang Trung) in their struggle against foreign invaders. The Vietnamese take this triad (Tam Tài) into account in their way of thinking and daily life.

For them, there is no doubt that this notion has an undeniable influence on the person themselves: their destiny is dictated by the will of Heaven and depends on their birth date. With the external and internal environment of their dwelling, they can receive the harmful or beneficial breath (qi) generated by the earth. The art of harmonizing the environmental energy of one’s place of residence allows one to minimize troubles and promote well-being and health. A flat terrain without undulations or hills is lifeless and lacks qi breath (Khí). The Vietnamese call hills and mountains Dragons and Tigers. Buildings should have a green dragon to the west and a white tiger to the east. The benevolent Dragon must be more powerful than the Tiger (Hữu Thanh Long, Tã Bạch Hổ) that is to say the Dragon mountain must be higher than the Tiger hill. The notion of harmony takes on its full meaning when a site backed by a mountain and surrounded on two sides by chains of hills that protect it from winds dispersing the Chi (or cosmic energy) gives access to a lake or a river where there is water and food essential for life and the accumulation of cosmic energies (Chi).

This model can be found in the case of the historic city or citadel of Huế (Kinh thành Huế). It is oriented towards the south because in the Yi King it is written: the one who governs the country must look towards the south « Thánh nhân nam diện nhi thính thiên hạ thí » (the king turns his face to the south to rule the world). The enclosure of this citadel is a defensive construction with a military character based on the fortress technique of the famous engineer Vauban and encompassing near its southern front the imperial city bounded by a second rectangular enclosure measuring 622×606 meters. Inside this is the purple forbidden city forming the symbolic heart of the empire within a third and last almost square enclosure of 330×324 meters. The interlocking of these three enclosures refers to the Triad (Heaven, Man, Earth).

The southern front of the citadel, where the Meridian Gate is located, follows a convex path along the Perfume River. Resembling a dragon lying in the West, it undulates and rises towards the North, weaving through small hills and making a 90° bend to the East. It first reaches the protective islands of Dã Viên and Cồn Hến before joining the sea. This creates an ideal position (Chi Huyền Thủy) in accordance with the scheme described above, with a green dragon to the East and a white tiger to the West represented respectively by the shell islands (Cồn Hến) and Dã Viên, facing a natural screen symbolized by the Royal Screen Mountain (Núi Ngự Bình).

 

Man can act and influence his own life. By performing benevolent acts towards others, he can find happiness and improve his karma. In the past, there was a Nam Giao or Tế Giao ceremony in Vietnam, organized every year by the court of Hué in honor of Heaven and Earth. It is the emperor’s privilege to annually associate his deified ancestors with the homage paid to Heaven and Earth on a monumental esplanade built in 1806 in the southern suburbs of Huế because he is the son of Heaven. There are three levels corresponding to the triad: Heaven, Representative (emperor), Earth (Thiên, Nhân, Địa).

Each level has its own shape and a different color: the sky is spherical and the earth square (trời tròn đất vuông), thiên thanh địa hoàng (the sky is light blue and the earth yellow). Previously subjected to isolation and fasting, the emperor ascended the esplanade of sacrifices and acted on behalf of his people to ask the natural forces of the universe to improve the environment on earth. The emperor is the only figure qualified to be the intermediary between Heaven and Earth. This triad (Thiên, Nhân, Địa) has often been mentioned in Vietnamese legends.

In the legend of the « The God of Mountains and the God of Rivers (Sơn Tinh Thủy Tinh) » there is a girl named Mi Nương who is sought in marriage by these two spirits, or in the legend of the Kitchen genius myth  (Chuyện Táo quân), the woman is torn between the love of her former husband and that of the new one. In the legend of the « Betel Quid, » the triad (wife, husband, younger brother) is represented by the woman, her husband, and her twin brother who, once deceased, respectively become the betel leaf, the areca nut, and the lime stone. The betel quid well reflects the notion of balance and harmony found in the theory of Yin and Yang. To prepare the betel quid, a little slaked lime is spread on a betel leaf.

Then, orange-yellow colored root bark of Artocarpus tonkinese is added, and finally a betel nut finely sliced is incorporated. The whole mixture is placed in the mouth and slowly chewed. After about twenty minutes of chewing, the remaining quid is spit out. The five tastes can be found in the betel quid: sweet from the betel nut, spicy from the betel leaf, bitter from the root, salty from the lime, and sour from the saliva. Through the image of the fresh betel vine emerging from the earth symbolized by the lime stone and entwining the slender areca palm trunk in this legend, one wants to note the character of the perfect balance between Yin (Earth) and Yang (Heaven) in perfect harmony. The betel quid is the prelude to every conversation (Miếng trầu là đầu câu chuyện), as often said in an old Vietnamese proverb. Acceptance carries deep meaning and amounts to a firm commitment, a given word that no one would think to take back. If the exchange occurs between a girl and a boy, it is equivalent to a proposal of marriage or union. In Vietnamese tradition, the betel quid is a symbol of conjugal happiness. It cannot be missing from marriage rites.

In the civilization of wet rice cultivation, there are other trinities as important as the triad (Heaven, Man, Earth). This is the case with the triad (Thủy, Hỏa, Thổ) (or (in French Water-Fire-Earth)) or the triad (Mộc, Kim, Thổ) (or Wood, Metal, Earth). We need the earth for rice cultivation, water, and fertilizers derived from ashes caused by fire to fertilize the soil. Similarly, plants are used for food and metals to make appropriate tools for agriculture. We notice that these triads have a common element, which is earth. That is why it occupies a central place in the management of the four cardinal points. It is the pivot around which the other four elements revolve. In agricultural life, the most important element after earth is water. It is the phrase: Nhất nước nhì phân (First water, second fertilizer) often heard from a Vietnamese farmer. Since water has a Yin nature, it is attributed to the North direction because it is compatible with cold (winter). On the other hand, being Yang in nature, the fire element of the triad (Thủy, Hỏa, Thổ) is better associated with the South direction with heat and radiation (summer). The wood element clearly recalls plants whose birth often takes place in spring. It is associated with occupying the west direction with the growth of Yang. As for the metal element, which is malleable and can take different forms, it is associated with the east direction, which is linked to autumn.

The Vietnamese find in the theory of Yin and Yang an idea of alternation rather than opposition. Yin and its complementary element Yang form an entity that allows for the establishment of a good balance and harmony. For them, the world represents a totality of cyclic orders constituted by the combination of two alternating and complementary manifestations. It is known that in an opposing relationship, both Yin and Yang each carry the seed of the other within themselves. (Nothing is completely Yin or completely Yang; within Yin there is Yang and within Yang there is Yin). Yin and Yang are considered as the wheel of a chariot. Having reached their end, they begin again. Once their limit is reached, they return again.

A set of popular sayings reflecting the law of causality concretely testify to the mutation of Yin and Yang. That is why it is customary to say in Vietnamese « Trong rũi có may » (In misfortune, there will be luck), « Trong dỡ có hay » (In what seems bad, there is also something good), « Trong họa có phúc » (In misfortune, there will always be happiness). « Sướng lắm khổ nhiều » (The more satisfied the desire, the more one will suffer), « Trèo cao ngã đau » (The higher you climb, the more painful the fall). « Yêu nhau nhiều cắn nhau đau » (The more we love each other, the more we hurt each other). Lost possessions are therefore sometimes the ransom of a human life. This is clearly expressed by the Vietnamese proverb: Của đi thay người (possessions go away instead of people). The factors Phúc (happiness) and Họa (misfortune) must vary inversely to each other.

It is thanks to this Yin and Yang bipolarity that the Vietnamese are accustomed to seeking a good balance in daily life. They try to find perfect harmony with everyone and with nature even beyond their death. This was discovered in the Lạch Trương necropolis (Thanh Hóa), dating back to 3 centuries before Christ, with wooden burial objects (Yang) placed in the North (Yin) and those made of terracotta (Yin) in the South (Yang).

This notion of balance can even be found in the pagoda with the spirits of good and evil (Ông Thiện Ông Ác). It is thanks to this philosophy of balance that the Vietnamese have the ability to adapt to all situations, even in extreme cases. It is also this principle of balance that Vietnamese leaders have continued to uphold in the past during confrontations with foreign countries. To avoid the humiliation of the Mongols, who were defeated twice in Vietnam, General Trần Hưng Ðạo proposed paying tribute to Kubilai Khan in exchange for lasting peace. After defeating the Ming Chinese, Nguyễn Trãi, the strategic advisor to King Lê Lợi, did not hesitate to allow Wang Tong (Vương Thông) to return to China with 13,000 captured soldiers and proposed a vassalage pact with a triennial tribute of two medium-sized statues made of fine metal as compensation for two generals who died in battle, Liou Cheng (Liễu Thăng) and Leang Minh (Lương Minh). Similarly, King Quang Trung showed humility and agreed to send an envoy to Emperor Qianlong to seek peace after crushing the Qing army at Hanoi in 1788 within a very short time (6 days).

We must not forget either the conduct and flexibility demonstrated by the communist leaders in diplomacy during the confrontation with the French and the Americans. The Geneva (1954) and Paris (1972) agreements once again testify to the search for balance or the middle way ingeniously found by the Vietnamese in the theory of Yin and Yang.
In Vietnam, spherical objects (tròn) are integrated into Yang, and square-shaped ones (vuông) into Yin. This tendency dates back to a time when it was believed that the sky was spherical and the earth was square because the ancient Vietnamese had to square the land before they could use it for plowing and building houses. It was in this mindset that the Bai Yue (of which the Proto-Vietnamese were a part) used to divide a portion of land into nine lots based on the character 井 tĩnh (giếng nước, meaning water well). The central lot was designated for building a water well, and the remaining eight lots were intended for constructing houses, thus forming the first housing unit in agricultural society.

The following Vietnamese popular saying: trời xanh như tán lọng tròn; đất kia chằn chặn như bàn cờ vuông (The blue sky is like a round parasol; the earth is firm like a square chessboard) reflects this belief well.The Proto-Vietnamese knew that the sky was round and the earth was square to distinguish between the round aspect of the sky at the moment of its existence (thể) and the square aspect of the earth at the moment of its use (dụng).

 NEXT (More reading Part 2)

Bibilography

–Alain Thote: Origine et premiers développements de l’épée en Chine.
–Cung Ðình Thanh: Trống đồng Ðồng Sơn : Sự tranh luận về chủ quyền trống đồng giữa học giã Việt và Hoa.Tập San Tư Tưởng Tháng 3 năm 2002 số 18. 
-Brigitte Baptandier : En guise d’introduction. Chine et anthropologie. Ateliers 24 (2001). Journée d’étude de l’APRAS sur les ethnologies régionales à Paris en 1993.
-Nguyễn Từ Thức : Tãn Mạn về Âm Dương, chẳn lẻ (www.anviettoancau.net) 
-Trần Ngọc Thêm: Tìm về bản sắc văn hóa Việt-Nam. NXB : Tp Hồ Chí Minh Tp HCM 2001. 
-Nguyễn Xuân Quang: Bản sắc văn hóa việt qua ngôn ngữ việt (www.dunglac.org)
-Georges Condominas : La guérilla viêt. Trait culturel majeur et pérenne de l’espace social vietnamien, L’Homme 2002/4, N° 164, p. 17-36. 
-Louis Bezacier: Sur la datation d’une représentation primitive de la charrue. (BEFO, année 1967, volume 53, pages 551-556) …..

 

 

 

Sacrifice (English version)

j050807 Histoire, Lịch sử, Traditions, Vietnam , ,

sacrifice_1f
Version Française
Version vietnamienne

Life is a game of chance. The chance is against us. It’s worth dying now for the country and set an example of sacrifice

Nguyễn Thái Học

Vietnam is not only a land of legends and learned men but also a land that men have acquired acre by acre in a crual mother nature for more than four thousand years. The cradle of the Vietnamese nation, the delta of Tonkin bordered by mild hills of the Hundred Thousands Mounts of China and squeezed in the South by a quasi impenetrable range, the Annamitic Cordillera, reduced to 15,000 km2 but rich of all the mud pulled out by the Red river, continues to be threathened by the latter with the discharge of 500m3 at low tide up to 3500m3 during the highest crests.

To master the blows of sword of the Red River, the Vietnamese people resort to a method of building dikes, which requires not only an increased watch of dikes but also a perpetual struggle. Facing the never-ending change of nature, the caprice of the Red river and the territorial ambitions of China, the Vietnamese people owe their safety at the cost not only of their labor and courage but also of their sacrifice in the long march filled of pitfalls towards the South.

This sacrifice is not foreign to the majority of Vietnamese in particular the men and women of character. It also becomes a cult that one likes to maintain and ceaselessly praise for Vietnam to excite the whole people before the threat of foreigners.

The sacrifice is the surest way to maintain the perfection of the homeland but it is also the synonym of loyalty and dignity. A great person is the one who dares take the responsibilities in moments of difficulty in his or her life but it is also the one who knows how to sacrifice himself or herself for a good cause, in particular for his or her country. The sacrifice is indispensable to the word « honor » in Vietnam.

Because of this moral dignity, many military people prefered suicide to surrender (Trưng Trắc, Trưng Nhị, Trần Bình Trọng, Võ Tánh etc..). That is why it is the habit to say:

Hùm chết để da, người chết để tiếng.
A dead tiger leaves its hide, a deceased person his reputation. 

The history of Vietnam is also that of sacrifices. The duty of a Vietnamese is to serve his or her country with all his heart. The greater the danger, the better his or her loyalty seems to be.

 

 

Heroes sacrifice for their fatherland. No matter what happens, his honor is never tainted. It is the case of the scholar Phan Thanh Giản, signatory of the Franco-Vietnamese treaty of 1868. After having failed to put up with the French in the defense of the three western provinces of the Mekong delta (Vĩnh Long, An Giang and Hà Tiên) he chose to surrender and decided to poison himself in 1967 because he thought it was the only way to save the people and to show his fidelity to emperor Tự Ðức. The same, Nguyễn Tri Phương (1873), adversary of Francis Garnier and Hoàng Diệu (1882), adversary of Henri Rivière preferred suicide after having failed to defend Hànội city.

During the French occupation, sacrifice became the flame of hope lit by unknown people such as Nguyễn Trung Trực, Phạm Hồng Thái. The former accepted to die in the stead of his mother captured after having succeeded in blowing up the French « Espérance » on its passage on the « Nhựt Tảo » river in Long An while the latter, chased by the Chinese police in his escape, preferred to throw himself in the river after having failed to assassinate the French governor Merlin during his passage by Canton in 1924. Admiror of his courage and sacrifice for his fatherland, the governor of Canton later buried his remains in a cemetery solely reserved for the 72 Chinese heroes and known as « Hoàng Hoa Cương » in Vietnamese. 

If this sacrifice is not a vain word for men, it carries a particular meaning for the Vietnamese women. Princess Huyền Trân of the Trần dynasty was proposed to become in 1306 the wife of king Chế Mẫn (Jaya Simhavarman)  in exchange of the two territories of Champa Chau Ô and Châu Rí. She had to sacrifice her life, her love for reason of State.

The same, three centuries later, a princess of the Nguyễn dynasty, of the name Ngọc Vạn to whom the word « Cochinchina » or (Cô chín xin) was attributed, was not late in following Huyen Tran’s footsteps in becoming the concubine of Cambodian king Prea Chey Chetta II in 1618 in exchange of the facilities granted to Vietnamese in their settlement in the region Ðồng Nai Mô Xoài which is no other than the Saigon-Cholon region today.

Her presence on the Cham soil served as a pretext for lord Nguyễn Phúc Tần to launch an expedition and annex the last territory of Champa in 1651. One cannot blame the Cham for hating princess Ngoc Khoa at that time because of her, they have lost their homeland. But Ngọc Khoa illustrates for us, the Vietnamese the sublime sacrifice she consented for her country and her people.

 

 

 

Po Klong Garai (PhanThiết)

Eastern Han Dynasty (Nhà Đông Hán)

j050807 Culture, Histoire, Lịch sử, site touristique, Paris , ,

 Version française
 Vietnamese version

Eastern Han dynasty (Nhà Đông Hán)

titre_dynhan_9 Guimet museum of Asian art (Paris)

 

Chronology of Eastern Han dynasty 

icon_daihan

 Đông Hán

25-57: Guangwudi reign

57-75: Mingdi‘s reign

75-88: Zhandi reign

88-106: Heidi reign

106: Shangdi reign

106-125: Andi reign

125: Shaodi reign

125-144: Chongdireign

145-146: Zhidi reign

146-168: Huandi reign

168-189: Lingdi reign

184: Yellow turban rebellion

189: Shaodi impeachment.

189-220: Xiandi reign.

190: Increasing power of GeneralCao Cao (Tào Tháo)

220: Death of Cao Cao and Xiandi.

End of Eastern Han dynasty

 

In the  territories conquered by  the Han, in particular in the South China, the Chinese assimilation continued in full swing. That is why revolts firstly  succeeded each other in the Dian kingdom (Điền Quốc)  (86, 83  before J.C., 14 after J.C., from 42 to  45 ). They were repressed with severity. These upheavals were largely due to   the Han officials exactions and the Chinese settlers’ behaviour in possession of fertile soils and expulsion of local people in remote  corners on his territory.  In addition, the latter had to adopt the language, customs and religious beliefs practiced by the Han.

In year 40, a serious rebellion broke out in Jiaozhou province (or Giao Châu in Vietnamese) including at this time, a great  part of  Kouangsi  and Kouang tong territories. It was led by the local prefect’s daughters, the elder Trưng Trắc (Zheng Cè)  and  her youngest daughter Trưng Nhị (Zheng Èr). As the husband of the elder Shi Suo (Thi Sách) opposed the Chinese assimilation policy conducted  brutally  by the Chinese proconsul Su Ding (Tô Định), the latter did not hesitate to kill him for making an example against Yue rebels. This killing revolted sisters Trưng and trigged immediately the insurgent movement in Yue territories.

 

icon_tigre

Mat weight 

intended to maintain the mat edges thanks to its weight.

[Return CHINE]

Sisters Trưng succeeded in gaining control of 65 citadels for a very short period of time.  They were  proclaimed Queens on conquered territories and etablished themselves in Meiling (or Mê Linh). In year 41, they were defeated by Chinese general Ma Yuan ( Mã Viện, Phục Ba tuớng quân)(the flow tamer) and preferred the suicide instead of the reddition by pluging into the Hát river. They thus became the symbol of Vietnamese resistance. They continue to be venerated today not only in Vietnam but also in certain areas of Yue territories belonging to China (Kouangsi et Kouang Tong). Ma Yuan began to apply a policy of terror and assimiltaion at forced march by placing at all level administration, Chinese trustwothy men and imposing the Chinese as the official language over the territory of the Vietnamese. It is the first Chinese domination during just 1000 years before the war of liberation started by General Ngô Quyền. In the meantime, Guangwudi  (Quang Vũ Đế)succeeded to bring prosperity and stability in his empire by reducing the tax on crops and profits. After his death,   his son Mingdi (Hán Minh Đế) imitating Wudi, pursued the policy of expansion by taking an offensive against the northern Xiongnu (Hung Nô)  with the aim of releasing the States of Central Asia from the guardianship of the latter and restoring the security of the silk road (con đường tơ lụa) for the benefit of China. Being the brother of Ban Gu (*)(Ban Cố) historian of this time, General Ban Chao (Ban Siêu) was in charge of this  military expedition. He succeeded in reaching the sea Caspienne and subduing the  Yuezhi (Nguyệt Chi or Nhục Chi) thanks to the Kusana assistance.

 

 (*) Author of Hanshu (Hán Thư)

 

Galerie des photos

guimet_han

No Images found.